


The Civilian Girl

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, POV Haruno Sakura, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25307071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sometimes, Sakura felt like she was the dead-last.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	The Civilian Girl

**Author's Note:**

> I've always been drawn to Sakura's character. I'm not sure if it's because I relate to her, or I sympathize with her, but I think she's definitely misunderstood. She doesn't deserve all the hate she gets. It's regrettable that she wasn't given as much writing or development as Naruto or Sasuke, because she's such an interesting character. This fic was basically just me dumping all my thoughts and headcanons about her character into a character study. It's been a while since I wrote so I'm not too confident about this fic. Any constructive criticism would be helpful. I'm trying to get back into the flow of writing. Either way, I hope you enjoy this fic!

Sometimes, Sakura felt like she was the dead-last.

Sakura sometimes thought she wasn’t meant to be a ninja. She enrolled in the academy because her parents were both fairly successful chuunin, but she never had the drive her other classmates had. She knew, as a child from a civilian family, she would never match up to the rest of her classmates. Who was she kidding? She only got into the class because of her book smarts, but she knew that wouldn’t be enough. But she didn’t even know why she was in the academy training to be a ninja in the first place, so she didn’t really bother putting in effort in the first place. Reading was something she enjoyed her entire life, so she at least took the time to read up on shinobi studies, which certainly helped put her at the top of the class.

Sakura never really knew what she wanted. Everyone around her seemed so sure of everything. Even Naruto, the dumbest ninja in the class, had a dream. While everyone mocked him for even thinking he could become Hokage, even Sakura herself, she still found it admirable. Even in the face of all that doubt, he still dreamt. She was jealous. Everything Sakura did was for the approval of others. She was a people pleaser. Or maybe she was just a doormat. It extended to every aspect of her life. It was why she was such a teacher’s pet, why she was too passive to stand up to her bullies, and it was why she had a crush on Sasuke. Sakura didn’t really like him, but it gave her something to do, at least. And it helped her fit in. She knew Sasuke saw his fangirls as useless wastes of time, but she never really did it for him in the first place. At least, when someone asked her about her passions, she could list Sasuke. Even if she could care less about him. She supposed if she felt anything about Sasuke, it would be jealousy. Yet another person with an unshakeable will and drive. If she were to put herself in Sasuke’s shoes, she didn’t think she’d be able to get out of bed. 

So of course fate would put her on a genin team with Sasuke and Naruto, the banes of her existence. To tie it all together, her genin sensei was Kakashi Hatake. Sakura wasn’t privy to the information about the high ranking shinobi of Konoha, but she could tell Kakashi was dangerous. They wouldn’t let just anyone be the genin sensei of the last Uchiha. Sakura had an inkling that she was just there to fill the slot of a third member. Her status as ‘top kunoichi’ was just the cherry on top. She knew everyone else on the team thought of her as useless, and she wasn’t doing anything to prove them wrong. She was listed as a genjutsu-type, but her sensei clearly specialized in frontline combat. Her learning wasn’t even considered in the formation of this team. She didn’t think her efforts would be acknowledged, even if she practiced on her own. So she continued to play her role, the Uchiha obsessed fangirl who didn’t take being a shinobi seriously. She was confident that she could breeze by the Chuunin Exams in a few years, and have a steady job as a courier ninja or something.

But yet again, her expectations were shattered. Not even two months after their first disastrous C-rank mission, she was handed the slip for the Chuunin Exams. Clearly her team was being fast-tracked, probably to appease Sasuke. She had a feeling he was a ticking time bomb, and the village was trying to do damage control. Judging by the determined looks on both her teammate’s faces, they thought they were ready. Sakura didn’t want to bring attention to herself, so she obediently signed the slip, even if she was afraid she would get killed during the exams. But no one would target them, right?

Wrong. Yet again, her team stood out. During the second stage of the exams, they were literally attacked by the snake sannin, Orochimaru. Sakura had no idea how they got out of that alive, but they did. Her team somehow made it to the tower, though, and progressed into the preliminary stage. Sakura was matched against Ino. Her former best friend, who cut her off because of a boy. She didn’t think that was really the reason, though. Ino and her never really had much in common anyway, she just happened to save her from bullies. Sakura supposed Ino felt obligated to be her friend, to help the ‘shy girl’ out. Once Sakura grew into her shell, it’s no surprise that Ino left. She was an uninteresting, untalented, civilian girl. It was only natural. Her fight with Ino ended in a draw, which surprised her. She was sure she’d lose. For once, Inner did something useful and protected her from the mind transfer jutsu. But she didn’t progress into the finals and was greeted by Kakashi, who had a slightly condescending tone as he consoled her. It had Inner cursing and yelling in rage, but Sakura just felt exhausted.

Since she could never catch a break, the village decided to get invaded. Her memories of the whole invasion were fuzzy, as it was one of the most stressful moments of her life. She was almost crushed to death by the one-tailed beast but was saved by Naruto, who managed to beat Gaara. Once again, her teammates outshined her and stood ahead of her by miles. Naruto, who graduated dead-last, saved the village from a tailed beast. Sakura felt like a washed-up failure. If she was ever even useful in the first place.

Sakura tried to do something to help her teammates for once, but even her attempt to get Sasuke to stay failed. He ended up leaving, and she woke up on the bench near the village gates feeling like the worst shinobi in the world. Was she even really a shinobi? She hadn’t done anything to deserve her hitai-ate. She spent the next few days, weeks, she wasn’t really sure, in a depression, and shortly after, Naruto left. Apparently, he went with Jiraiya of the Sannin to look for Tsunade, who was to become the Fifth Hokage. If that was a ranked mission, it would probably be A-rank. Maybe S-rank, because of the sheer importance. Meanwhile, Sakura helped villagers rebuild and otherwise lazed about the village. She was frustrated, but she didn’t know what else she could do. For some reason, Kakashi was nowhere to be found. Maybe he just didn’t feel like checking on his most useless student. 

A few days later, Naruto and Jiraiya returned with Tsunade. Her inauguration as Fifth Hokage was brief but raised morale in the city. Sakura just felt even worse about herself. All the ninjas in the village worked so hard to rebuild and defended the city during the invasion. She almost got herself killed during the invasion and did the bare minimum helping afterward. Sakura was frustrated, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to be someone. She wanted to be a shinobi worthy of respect.

“Please take me on as your apprentice!” She stood before Tsunade determinedly. Tsunade interlocked her fingers, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh? And why should I, Sakura Haruno?” She asked. Sakura gulped. It was a good question. She didn’t really stand out, and for her, a civilian girl, to ask to be the Hokage’s apprentice. It was a long shot. But she had to try. 

“Hokage-sama, all my life, I never really put my heart into anything,” she started. Tsunade gave her a confused look, but Sakura continued. “I breezed through the academy relying on my natural intelligence and ended up on a team with two amazing shinobi. But I never pushed myself.” Sakura clenched her fist. “I hated myself for it, but I didn’t do anything to change. But over time, my teammates inspired me. By the time I wanted to improve for myself, they were already miles ahead of me. I was always looked down upon by everyone, even if they didn’t show it. In a class full of clan shinobi, as a civilian, it was hard. But I want to prove them wrong.” She declared, looking directly into Tsunade’s eyes.

“Most importantly, I want to prove myself wrong. I know I have what it takes to become an elite shinobi, and I know I’ll thrive under your tutelage. I’m the perfect candidate to be your apprentice.” Sakura stated confidently. Tsunade let out a shocked laugh.

“Such confidence!” Tsunade remarked. Her smile dropped. “Why are you the perfect candidate, then?” Sakura grinned, prepared to answer.

“My chakra control is extremely precise. I’m well-read on biology, anatomy, and chemistry. I have a near-photographic memory and as of recently, I’m as determined as you can get. I’ll do anything it takes.” She listed. Tsunade gave her a long stare, leaning back into her chair.

“Not many are as bold as you, that’s for sure. I’ll see if you can hold up those claims. Meet me at Training Ground 16 at 6 AM tomorrow. Don’t be late.” Tsunade gestured for her to leave. Sakura nodded, barely hiding her excitement as she walked out of the room. She let her composure break after she left, breaking out into a large grin. Finally, someone would give her a chance. She planned to go to the library and read about medical ninjutsu until the library closed. She had a lot to prepare for.

The first day was the hardest, was what everyone said about training. Sakura didn’t think that applied to Tsunade. Every day felt like the most grueling training of her life, and it only got worse. But oddly enough, Sakura didn’t see it as a chore. When she saw her bruises in the mirror and felt her muscles sore the next morning, she felt accomplished. She finally felt something. Her ‘homework’ didn’t feel like work at all. She found herself getting lost in the hundreds of medical texts Tsunade gave her. All of it was new information, and she relished in the new knowledge. For a bookworm like her, it was a dream come true.

The physical training was a hurdle she still found trouble with. She was pushed much harder than she ever was in the academy. According to Tsunade, her physical state was ‘abysmal’ and it was ‘a wonder she survived this long’. This led to her having a strict training regimen and diet closely monitored by Tsunade. Every day, Sakura would train for hours, study medical textbooks, and train her chakra control.

Eventually, Tsunade deemed her fit enough to learn medical ninjutsu, and Sakura surprisingly took to it like a fish to water. Compared to the average week it took for a medic-nin to learn to resuscitate a fish, Sakura learned it in three days. She felt a sense of superiority. This was a skill neither Sasuke nor Naruto could learn, even if they had a month. Sakura was progressing, slowly but surely. She didn’t see Sasuke and Naruto as miles ahead of her anymore. She could catch up, and she wouldn’t just be ‘Sakura-chan’ or ‘the fangirl’. She was Sakura Haruno, the shinobi.

She wouldn’t be dead-last anymore.


End file.
